BLACKAWTON Primary School pupils and a delegation from the German Navy have been among recent visitors to Britannia Royal Naval College.

With the college hosting the Fleet Air Arm Commanding Officers annual conference, the youngsters were invited to BRNC to take a close look at a Merlin helicopter. The helicopter is assigned to the Royal Navy’s new Aircraft Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The Commanding Officer of BRNC, Captain Jol Woodard, said: ‘We were delighted to welcome the children into the college and grateful to the helicopter crew for allowing the visitors to climb into the cockpit.

‘Hosting the conference not only provided a fun learning opportunity for the children, but also helped our cadets, who were able to put their questions to senior members of the Fleet Air Arm and get a better feel for the role air assets play in supporting operations.’

During a three-night visit to BRNC, the German delegation were given an insight into the initial naval training course for officers and were shown some of the facilities available at the college.

Captain Woodard said: ‘We have a long-standing and close relationship with the Marineschule Mürwik, the German Navy equivalent of BRNC. Their Cadets are regular visitors to the college to train alongside our cadets and they have recently worked together at sea on board HMS Ocean.

‘The German Navy are in the process of reviewing their initial naval training course and we were delighted to compare notes on methods and ideas. I’m looking forward to visiting Marineschule Mürwik myself later in the year.’